Officials with federal and state agencies conducted court-authorized law enforcement activity in March 2016 at businesses throughout the state, including some in Hattiesburg.(Photo: Lici Beveridge/Hattiesburg American)Buy Photo

A Gulfport doctor charged in a 16-count indictment is accused of defrauding TRICARE by prescribing medically unnecessary compounds, some of which used ketamine, a drug used to sustain anesthesia and to treat chronic pain.

A federal grand jury handed up the indictment Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Hattiesburg in an investigation led by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force and related to the prosecution of Lamar County pharmacist Jason May and prescription marketer Gerald Jay Schaar of Biloxi.

Dr. Albert Diaz is an obstetrician and gynecologist who practices on Medical Park Drive in Biloxi.

He is accused of writing prescriptions without examining patients and having the prescriptions filled by a Hattiesburg-based compounding pharmacy, a Justice Department press release said Wednesday.

The indictment is related to the prosecutions of May, pharmacist in charge of Advantage Pharmacy in Lamar County, and prescription marketer Schaar of Biloxi.

May and Schaar pleaded guilty to related charges on July 25. Both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. May also pleaded guilty to a money laundering scheme to defraud insurance programs, including TRICARE, of $190 million, federal agents said.

Their charging document mentioned an unidentified doctor who prescribed compounded medicines, including creams, as part of the scheme. Diaz apparently is the doctor in question.

U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst, FBI Special Agent in Charge Christopher Freeze and IRS-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Jerome McDuffie are the federal agents who announced the indictment.